Smile, My Proud Corazón
by smoothpapaya
Summary: Waking up with a healed scar on her chest and her chakra completely gone, and with this new energy called Haki in its stead, Sakura sets out into this new World she's found herself in with adventure lighting up her aventurine eyes. She just never anticipated she'd adopt a kid that's lost everything, or meeting a certain clumsy, tall blond man that's tripped his way into her heart.
1. Chapter 1 - Enter Haru No Sakura

**Hello! **

**First off; This isn't my first fanfic, but this is the very first time I've ever written for both Naruto and One Piece and published a story for either fandom!**

**So I've always been a fan of Naruto, but it wasn't until **_**very**_** recently that I actually started on One Piece (I was intimidated by the amount of chapters/episodes of the manga/anime lol) but let's just say that Luffy is my son now and I love him very much and I thought that my very first work for this fandom would be a zolu fic and not a crossover lolol**

**But even though I love Luffy, Haruno Sakura has always been a favorite character of mine for years and I don't think it'll change anytime soon, and, just like how a lot of these crossover fics starts, I thought, "**_**what if"**_** and that is how this story came to be!**

**This chapter is just an expositional one that don't go too much into detail, so you can say that the real story will actually start in the next chapter! And even though they haven't been introduced yet, judging by the title and summary, you can probably guess what other characters are going to play a big role in this fic ^^**

**Just a warning, English isn't my native language, so there's bound to be grammatical errors/misspellings and weird sentences formulation etc but I would be very happy if it is pointed out (**politely please ;-;**) what I've written wrong/weirdly and how to fix it :)**

**Anyways, without further ado, please enjoy! **

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**Disclaimer! I sadly don't own either Naruto or One Piece lol**

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**Chapter 1.**

_**Enter Haru No Sakura**_

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Haruno Sakura comes to with an unnoticeable jolt, suppressed through years of training and survival instincts that's been ingrained into her since the start of her shinobi career.

The young woman inhales deeply, subtly shifts where she lays on something incredibly soft, and tries to reach out with her chakra. Except- she can't feel her chakra. At all.

And then the pain and memories hits her all at once.

She screams- Something terrible and raw that tears out of her throat.

_Spinning red, the sound of a thousand chirping birds-_

There are hands trying to hold her down but- Sakura's strong, even without chakra, and she pushes the person aside without struggle and tries to move, to get up and away-

_Something slams into her chest, fire bubbling in her veins and burning her from inside out-_

Sakura grasps at her chest, at the spot where there's supposed to be an open wound and bleeding and _open- Redredred- _

But when she touches the skin, feels a scar healed over-

Before the girl can even wonder _how_, something stabs into her shoulder and in just a few seconds, she's out like a light.

* * *

The chirping of a thousand birds rings in her ear and all Sakura knows is that-

This is it.

This is the end for her.

Despite knowing this, the cherry blossom haired girl can do nothing but look on as her former teammate- _The one she loves? But really, what is it she truly feels?-_ advances towards her, his prideful chidori alight in his right hand and dark, monstrous insanity in his onyx eyes.

Her stance is open and her grip on the kunai she'd intended to strike the Uchiha with is loose- Had been loose all this time and she wonders if she'd really loved Sasuke all these years, if she'd really cared for him the way Naruto did, or if it all was just delusional determination to not let him, no, _herself_ down.

_Maybe_, she muses lightly, _I've been in love with the idea of dedication all along._

Mistaken obsession for love. Would she truly have been able to kill Sasuke if she loved him the way she claimed to do or would she still have been too weak to do it?

As the lightning technique strikes down on her she sees her own reflection in Sasuke's haunted eyes.

The ringing gets louder and Sakura closes her own eyes, waiting for the impending pain.

_Or,_ _she really is in love with Uchiha Sasuke_.

But this empty shell of a man before her isn't the one she loves.

And the only regret she felt at that moment was that she had still been too weak, too caught up in perfect fantasies of _what ifs _and thinking she could bring change with the way she was-

The chidori hits her, right in the middle of her chest and agony lights up in her like hot, blue fire but she never looks away, never yields as she gazes deep into onyx eyes, still searching for the boy she'd once truly loved.

She doesn't know if she finds him, in that endless darkness.

Doesn't know if she ever will.

* * *

_Her body feels weightless, as if she's floating, and when she opens her eyes, there's endless white surrounding her. _

_Gold dust orbits around her and she feels like she doesn't ever want to wake up from this._

_But then- _

_She's suddenly flying- _falling?_\- _

_Down, down-_

_Up, up-_

* * *

Haruno Sakura comes to with a suppressed jolt but this time, exhaustion and a false sense of calm weighs her down and she barely has the strength to even think. Her aventurine eyes flutters open and stares up at the ceiling above her, and she wonders.

Wonders what happened after she got hit by the lightning sphere in her dear- _previous-_ teammate's hand.

Wonders what happened to her childhood love and where he's gone to, and who the stranger with his vacant, crazed eyes that had hit her with the chidori had been.

Wonders why she can't feel her chakra, why she isn't dead, where she _is-_

Dragging her tired and sluggish gaze- _she must've been sedated-_ to the side, the rosette is met with the sight of a tall and old, light blond haired woman with a flask gripped in one hand and a smirk on her lips.

Sakura finds out the woman's name is Kureha, a doctor, and learns that she is very, _very_ far from home.

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Somehow, after getting hit by the chidori, Sakura's _Strength of a Hundred_ seal had activated and she'd subconsciously healed herself, the scar marring her chest and tapering down to her sternum- and the seal itself on her forehead- proof of that.

Sakura suspects that her tenketsu points got affected- either by the premature activation of the seal or how she ended up _there, far away from home-_ the familiar thrum of her chakra beneath her skin absent and, for the first time in years, Sakura feels weak and hopeless, feels like her skin is too tight and her body too unsteady, _too, too, too _much-

Something happened after that- After she got hit by the chidori.

She didn't know exactly what, and _how_\- but she'd ended up washed up on some Island Dr. Kureha had been on to pick some herbs and the doctor had taken her back to Drum Island, the doctor's home, where she'd been treated and eventually woke up, just to wrestle with the woman who'd helped her and eventually got hit with a tranquilizer.

How she ended up there is a complete mystery that Sakura doesn't think she'll ever find the answer for and the realization that she's in a strange, new world, that she'll probably never meet her dear friends and family again and that she doesn't have her abilities, her healing and monstrous strength and jutsu-

Haruno Sakura is 16 years old, far from Konoha and supposed to be _dead-_

She breaks down and cries for what she's lost.

* * *

What had originally been a plan to stay with the doctor for a few days- until she's healed and can travel back to Konoha, go back _home_ again- turns into weeks, and eventually, Sakura stays with Dr. Kureha for almost a year after finding out that she's nowhere near her village, or any of the Elemental Nations at all.

She'd played with the possibility that she could be trapped in a genjutsu but the absence of her chakra- _and the presence of the scar and her seal and Kureha-san and the frigid cold of Drum Island_\- had made her realize that her situation was all too real.

It'd taken her a while to accept the fact that she's in a completely new world and that her chakra was gone, too.

Luckily for her, Kureha-san doesn't let her dwell in her misery and makes sure that she "_aren't useless around here while you're staying with me, now get to work-!"_

The older woman had been pleasantly surprised when she'd found out that Sakura was a medic-doctor, and an exceptional one at that. The two learned new things from each other, traded techniques and knowledge neither had heard of before and though the new information may never come into use, the two of them could appreciate learning new things.

Through her stay with the doctor, Sakura learns of the world she now lives in- Learns of the World Government, the orders and laws of this new universe, of the Navy and Pirates and Bandits and Celestial Dragons- It's not much, she doesn't know _everything_, but it's enough to get by.

She also learns that the World is largely Water, and made up of thousands- _millions?-_ of islands, each one different from the other and finds herself wanting, like a child, to explore each of these places, to find out how the climates differs from island to island, what cultures they share and don't share and decides- When she's more settled into this world and feels ready, she'll venture out on her own and learn and see everything and anything she can.

Sakura gets nightmares and flashbacks that sometimes hits her as hard as the chidori had struck her, and she can't quite hold back her tears and soft cries as memories of her family and friends strikes her heart with a longing that aches. The rosette is grateful for the Doctor's quiet but steady presence whenever Sakura's left all wrung out and tired from those episodes, sitting in the dim light of flickering lit up candles with her as the howling wind outside fills the silence.

Six months into staying in Drum Island- of helping the doctor with aiding the sick and wounded to distract herself and be of use- while she's meditating, in hopes of still being able to recover her chakra, Sakura taps into another kind of energy lying dormant inside of her.

It's- Different from chakra, not as fluid and flexible but at the same time, the energy is similar to that of the Physical and Spiritual energies and the rosette fills with renewed hope that maybe, she hasn't lost _everything_. It may be different from chakra, but if Sakura could somehow mold and shape it to her whims, perhaps she could use this new energy to heal again.

It feels odd and it's harder to control.

Sakura won't let a little frustration and doubt stop her from trying to become a great healer again, though. After all, with Tsunade as a teacher and especially trying to learn the Mystical Palm Technique, you'd need the determination and patience of a saint and _more._

The brief thought of her dear shishou makes Sakura's heart ache but she quickly bats the memories away. She's cried enough the first few weeks she'd woken up in this world to last her a lifetime and she knew, if she let herself dwell on her former life, she'd break down again.

So with new will and determination to survive in this world, to help as many as she could, Sakura started on working with this new energy inside of her.

If there was one thing Sakura was proud to boast about, it was her perfect chakra control and, by applying the same practice, with a little change here and there to match the flow of this new energy, the rosette was quickly able to grasp it in just a few days and circulate it the way she wanted.

So, she _would_ be able to heal again, and the rosette lets out a sigh of relief. Of course, even without the Mystical Palm Technique, she wasn't less of a medic- A doctor. But being able to use chakra to heal was wonderful and nothing short of miraculous and if Sakura had even an ounce of a chance of using this new, foreign energy to her advantage, she would do it.

The tricky part was _molding_ the energy. Forming it and manipulating it the way she wanted and making it work _along_ with her.

She needed it to stitch cells together, to form bonds and heal bones and muscles and stop and start blood flows and ease out fluids and poisons-

Haruno Sakura was nothing if not determined and it took a while, and she had to stop helping Kureha-san to fully immerse herself into this "_project"_ of hers.

The rosette does her best at figuring out this Haki on her own but it's tough, not being able to ask anyone for guidance and advice from. Eventually, though, through sheer stubbornness and determination, and months of grueling practice and burned palms and attempt after attempt, she can finally-

She can finally heal with the use of the Mystical Palm Technique using _Haki._

Sakura starts to store the energy into the seal on her forehead the instance she masters it and, thanks to the Doctor, she learns what Haki is, which could be described as this world's equivalent to chakra, and that it's _never_ been used the way she intends to use it. Sakura would've laughed at the expression on Kureha-san's reaction to her plans if the startling realization that she could- no, _would-_ do what Tsunade-shishou had done hadn't dawned on her like a falling mountain squashing her to the dirt.

Except, Sakura would be the very _first- if not the only one-_ to have activated "healing" Haki in this world. And she realizes that it was solely up to her to teach this to others.

The Doctor tries to convince Sakura that it's for her own good that she keep her abilities a secret to the world but- It's always been her hope and goal to help people, even before she realized that she wanted to be a nin, and the rosette was even more resolute in going on her journey, not only to learn more about this World now, but to help and heal and, hopefully, teach people this Healing Haki, as she's aptly named it.

It doesn't take long for the people in Drum to learn of Sakura and her healing abilities and in no time, the rosette is dubbed as a miracle healer. She heals everyone she can, until she feels confident in her use of Healing Haki and feels more assured in her own skin again, Sakura sets her sight on the horizon and feels that it's finally time.

And so, a year and a half after having woken up and learned that she was in a completely new world and having started her new life, Haruno Sakura sets out from Drum Island in a small boat and drifts out to the unknown seas.

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**Comments/pointers/constructive criticism and subscriptions are very much appreciated! **❤︎

**Unnecessary flaming are very much ****_not_**** appreciated!**


	2. Announcement!

Hi! So this isn't an update- well, not the kind you're probably waiting for eheeheheeh AND I'M SORRY FOR THAT

FIRST OF ALL THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE LIKES AND LOVE AND SUPPORT THIS FIC HAS GOTTEN UWU

I just wanted to say that I have been working on the next chapter (and had planned to update at least within the week of having posted the work for the first time,,,, not months after *cries*) and I was gone the whole of April so it was next to impossible to write anything but it's just, sometimes I can write 1K words in 30 minutes and next I can barely squeeze out 500 words in a week and I don't know where the hell my motivation for this fic went.

I suspect it has to do with me over thinking the plot but I promise I'm working on it.

ANYWAYS the actual bad news is that my dumbass self spilled coffee on my laptop causing it to go kaputt and I'm currently jobless so it's gonna take me some time until I can get a new one so what I really want to say is sorry it's taking long for me to update OTL

I do try to write on the phone but it gets frustrating because I only use my thumbs and it's so easier with better reach when there's a bigger keyboard instead of a small, flat screen.

If you want to talk (about anything really! Interests, hobbies, the weather!) then my twitter is smoothpapaya

Also, aside from "Smile, My Proud Corazón" I've also started writing a few other stuff, mainly Tim Drake-centric and DamiJon stuff so if anyone's interested I would like to know and talk abt it!

Anyways thanks for reading my announcement and I'm so sorry once again OTL


	3. Chapter 2 - Enter Heart Officer

**Hey! So sorry for this very late update! I was planning on updating within the same week after I posted the first chapter but obviously it didn't turn that way and now here we are MONTHS later OTL  
I had a difficult time writing up this chapter and it definitely didn't turn up the way I had planned but I really wanted to update and I honestly think this is as good as it gets without me overthinking and rewriting this for the billionth time lol **

**Also, I was away for a whole month in April, so that was a whole month with no possible way to focus and write and recently, my laptop died cus my dumbass spilled iced coffee on it... The betrayal... So I've been writing on my phone... **

**Plus, I got into DC right after posting this fic so my attention and interest has been elsewhere the past months.. My favorite characters are Tim Drake, Jon Kent, Artemis of Bana-Mighdall and Wally West so feel free to hmu if u would like to talk abt them! :')  
My twitter is SmoothPapaya**

**Anyways enough of my ranting and big, BIG Thank you, Merci, Gracias to everyone who's reviewed and subscribed etc! :'D**

**It really means a lot and gives me motivation to continue this even though I've tired myself down with how much I've overthought this story and its plot to the point I just want to give up on it because it's become (kind of?) boring to me.. But it's just barely started and I really do want to finish it so I'll try my best!**

**Hope this chapter is good enough until the next one!**

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_PS! I've been writing a Sakura fic for fun where she's in the DC world, is a Mutant/meta human and stumbles across Jason Todd who she unofficially adopts but would anyone be interested if I posted it? Like a one-shot or something.._

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**Chapter 2.**

_**Enter Heart Officer**_

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The tavern is surprisingly almost barren as he shoulders his way through the door, posture hunched and steps slow but assured as he makes his way towards the table at the back where the dealer is already waiting. He takes stock of his surroundings.

There aren't that many patrons in the room, and his wandering gaze sweeps over the establishment a few times to make sure there aren't any marines or other types of people that'll get in his way during this _very_ brief meeting.

There's a small group of men hunched around a table, a cloaked figure at one end of the bar and a balding man on the other.

Deciding that none of those patrons were noteworthy, he continues towards the table, expression schooled in a passive mask, deliberately towering over the dealer as he takes out a cigarette and lights it before slowly lowering himself to a stool across the other man.

The other is trying to hide his nervousness from the younger Donquixote brother, but Rocinante can see right through him, has been tracking his moves and routes, and knows what just to do if the other decides to lie.

This will be an easy one, and he doesn't even have to say or write a single word.

It'd already been decided before he even left the base.

As the dealer stutters his way through an explanation of something about somewhere that someone had tipped him about and doing _whatever_ he thought would benefit _their _deal, Rocinante lets his gaze wander over the establishment once more- When copper eyes suddenly meets shades of green that reminds him of sea foam.

"A-a-and, quite frankly, sir, uhm, I assumed I could go ahead and sell it to, you know, to the Arai pirates- Get more out of the deal, f-for, uh, you-"

The green eyes- that he can't quite put a name to the shade- looks away first.

_Then where the hell is the money? _

_Spent on more drugs for yourself? _

_More slaves? _

Rocinante barely holds back the snarl of disgust that wants to break through his poker face- But he feels it, the disgust and loathing bubbling up inside his gut, almost breaking his persona.

Rocinante looks back towards the dealer and stares at him for a moment, narrowing his eyes just so, letting his lip curl just right- the motion exaggerated by the red lipstick extended past his lips. He leans forward, using his height and his width to his advantage and looms, makes the other feel caged in. He slips out a folded paper out of his pocket and slides it across the table, already written in advance by Doflamingo because these guys are just too predictable.

_**Game's over pal no more lying :)**_

"L-lying? But, but I'm not, I'm- I'm not I-I-I _swear-_!" His anxiety and useless blabbering just makes it all too obvious, though.

Well, Rocinante would've given the guy the benefit of the doubt if he hadn't seen the other with his own two eyes. Rocinante is a lot of things, and despite his clumsy limbs not agreeing, careful and cautious are just a few of those. He didn't become a Marine Commander by luck- despite many a people's assumptions.

He's scouted the town and docks, before meeting up with the scum before him, and knows where the victims are kept. He has evidence for an arrest and he would've done just that, put a cuff to the guy's wrists and call for backup- If he were the Marine Rocinante.

But as it is, he isn't that man at the moment.

He's the younger Donquixote brother, the Corazón, and the Corazón pulls out a gun and shoots the dealer right between his eyes before quickly and quietly slinking his way out of the tavern in the middle of the commotion he's caused.

He didn't even have to use his devil's fruit ability.

The few patrons and barkeeper are occupied panicking over the bloody mess and dead dealer and yet, Rocinante can't quite shake the feeling that there's a gaze burning into the back of his head.

He needed to get away fast, then, lest he get cornered and have to kill another one.

The night air is cool and soothing to his face and Rocinante inhales deeply, collecting himself as he lights up another cigarette, trying not to shudder, to not focus on the way his skin crawls and the way the blood that's splattered on his face is already drying and flaking.

Making him feel itchy.

He wants to rip the damn feathery coat off his back, wants to just shower and _be_ and not think about his brother, wants to just not remember and not pretend and not kill and not run and not hide.

Hide his status. Hide his abilities. Hide his loyalties and thoughts and opinions.

Hide himself.

As it is, Rocinante only has the luxury of bathing and then go to sleep.

Maybe cry a little.

_After_ he's freed the slaves and alerted headquarters for assistance.

He may be acting as Corazón now and while his mission as the Heart Officer had been to get rid of the rat, Rocinante would never forgive himself for walking away when he knew there were people that needed saving and he was right there and _could do it._

Throwing his stub of cig to the ground and grinding his heel on it, the heart officer starts walking in the opposite direction of where he knows the slaves are being kept. There aren't many people out, just a few stragglers drunk out of their minds as they try to stumble their way to wherever.

For being a very tall man, he's good at keeping himself hidden, steps quiet as he keeps to the shadows and out of sight- Sometimes he doesn't even bother activating his devil fruit's ability.

It doesn't hurt to be cautious, though, so Rocinante does a few rounds around the streets to make sure no one is trailing him.

It gets quiet soon enough, eerily so and he has a prickling feeling on the back of his neck of being stared at. So far, though, he hasn't spotted anyone but the unsettled feeling still churns low in his stomach. He's probably wasting more time than he should but he'd rather not come across anyone or anything that will interfere with his plans.

After a while, he finally makes his way to the western outskirt of town, where he knows the dealer has the slaves in one of the abandoned barns.

It takes a while for Rocinante to reach the shed where the captured victims are kept at, the shoddy structure almost two miles out of the small town in an inhabited side of the island. A meadow is stretched out before it, the moonlight illuminating the open grass and the small shed, giving it all a haunting image.

He stops by the treeline surrounding the meadow and takes off his hat, cloak and hastily wipes off the lipstick painting his lips so no one will recognize him. A small voice in his head prays that freeing the captured victims will go smoothly and that no one is seriously hurt.

Perhaps, it goes a little too smoothly.

His trek over the grassy field and towards the shed is quick and quiet. He soundlessly breaks the barricaded door and is greeted by a dozen terrified children that are too scared to make any noise at the sight of him. Rocinante barely holds back the rage boiling inside of him at the sight.

He's quick and efficient when he frees the kids from their binds and in no time, is leading them through the grassy field and to the treeline he came through.

Out of nowhere, a shot rings through the air, his side erupts in flames of agony and suddenly the children are scattering off in a panic as Rocinante falls down to the ground with a bit off scream.

It isn't his first time getting shot but it'll always hurt like a _goddamn bitch-_

Three pairs of feet fills his blurry vision when he forces his eyes open.

"Tis the guy that shot Morri'?" One of the goons sneers and Rocinante barely holds back the eyeroll. These guys were smarter than he'd given them credit for, he'll give them that- He'd thought that he'd taken care of them all but apparently not.

As loath as he was to admit it, he'd been sloppy.

Not that it'd be difficult to deal with these fools, though.

He's a trained Marine, he'd be pretty ashamed of himself if he let himself get taken down this easily by some toothpicks.

They don't hear the rustle coming from him as Rocinante brings out his pistol nor do they hear the shot going off as the goon in the middle suddenly falls on his back with a scream. The two others are quick to follow and Rocinante huffs as he allows himself a second to catch his breath. Just moving his arm upset the bullet wound in his side.

He's pretty sure there's no exit wound, so digging the bullet out will hurt so. Damn. Much.

That's for future Rocy to concern himself with, though, because current Rocy doesn't have time to dilly-dally around.

When he tries to get up, the world suddenly flips around and the Marine collapses to the ground with a grunt. _What the-?_

Simultaneously, he started to feel both hot and cold and he's pretty sure he knows why he's feeling like the world is spinning and why his skin is melting off but he just can't put words to it-

Just as the shadows creeps up in his vision, a curtain of pink blossoms fills his perception and there, among the Cherry Blossoms, glittering Emerald sparkles.

* * *

Morri and his goons is a sleazy bunch.

It had been by luck when she'd stumbled upon the dealers as they hastily led their captures through the forest where she'd been looking for a type of flora Kureha had requested for her to send back via post.

Her boat was too small to fit the dozen of children and take them away, though, and the island was too small for her to be able to get the children to safety without the goons finding out. So she'd have to take care of the goons first.

There are eight men- three of which are with the children and four- who she'd quickly dealt with- are by the docks. No chance for the ones with the children to call for backup from.

Morrison himself is sitting alone in the establishment Sakura is currently sat in.

She plans on approaching him, maybe get him to follow her out of the tavern and into an alleyway where she can knock him out and tie him up without drawing attention to herself.

Her plans are thrown in the backburner, though, when an abnormally tall, feather-cloaked man strides into the tavern and makes straight for Morri and not even two moments later, puts a bullet between Morri's eyes.

He must've really pissed a few people off. At least Sakura wouldn't have to deal with Morrison any longer.

Her new problem was the tall man, though.

Did he know about the children?

What was his intentions?

Tailing him was a walk in the park, though he did seem cautious and Sakura almost got noticed a few times. He must be trained, then, if he almost detected someone like her. She watches him shed his cloak and hat, and the face that appears when he wipes his face paint off is handsome. When he runs out to the field, the rosette crouches on a tree branch and waits.

Sakura steels herself to fight the man when she realizes he's making his way towards the cabin where the children are kept, assuming the worst.

She hesitates when he runs out again with the children trailing him, though, free of their bounds and readily following the stranger as he leads them back the way he came from. Sakura decides he could be trustworthy, for now.

Just as she remembers the other goons left, a shot rings out followed by screams from the children and Sakura is ready to help the man when she watches the goons fall down one by one.

This man really had done most of her job for her.

Deciding that she didn't need to bother with him any longer, the rosette was about to leave to round up the children to see if they needed any medical attention when she notices the man sway on his feet before abruptly fainting.

Guess he did need her help in the end.

* * *

The first thing he notices when he becomes aware is the stiffness of the surface he's laying on.

The second thing is that he doesn't hurt. At all.

Having had the training that he'd had, Rocinante immediately recalls what happened before he fell unconscious and he knows he should be hurting, seeing as he got shot.

His training as a Marine is what holds him back from shooting up to look where he is and if he's in any danger. He can't help but tense up, though, and curses himself because that most definitely gave him away. He nearly jumps when a voice, soft and quiet, suddenly speaks up.

"I'm not going to hurt you," the voice, sounding feminine and amused, says, "not after I helped you with that bullet hole. Otherwise it would've been a waste of effort and resources, wouldn't you say?"

Rocinante dares crack his eyes open and winces when the brightness of the room nearly blinds him. The sound of curtains getting drawn has him try to open his eyes again and the sheer curtains doesn't really make a difference, but the room is less brighter than before and it's easier to look around now.

His gaze instantly draws towards the figure standing by the window, framed by the light filtering in.

Long, pink hair trails down over one shoulder and green eyes almost glow as they look back at him and Rocinante doesn't ever think he's ever seen someone that beautiful.

In that moment, he's caught between being Corazón, cold and mute or being Rocinante, awkwardly _himself._


End file.
